Attitudes on race could be a key factor in midterm elections, poll shows

The nation’s most competitive midterm races may hinge on President Donald Trump’s attitudes about race, according to a recent poll co-sponsored by the NAACP and other groups.

Most of those polled said they feel this November’s midterm election is more important than the 2014 midterm, but respondents were split about their reasons to vote. Of those surveyed, 43 percent said they will show up to vote for Democrats who represent the issues they care about (rather than Republicans who represent their issues), and 42 percent said they will vote to show politicians that African-American communities matter.

The survey included responses from registered voters in 61 of the nation’s most competitive congressional House races – identified by the Cook Political Report, CNN and political scientist Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball website – five of which were Florida congressional House districts.

The poll found that African-American voters care most about “Trump-stopping,” and 82 percent of respondents said they felt the president has “disrespected” them. Of that group, more African-American women than men said they felt disrespected. Most people surveyed said they felt Trump is setting U.S. race relations back and increasing a racial divide. The majority of people polled said they believe that Trump is actively harming the African-American community in this country.

CD Davidson-Hiers is a 2017 summa cum laude graduate of Florida State University with a degree in Creative Writing and French. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Golden Key honors societies, and has received multiple writing awards for fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Prior to joining the Florida Phoenix, CD worked at the Tallahassee Democrat and has bylines in Tallahassee Magazine. She is a native of Pensacola and currently lives in Tallahassee with her tabby cat, Faulkner.

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